Wellington Webb was born in Chicago in 1941. He came to Denver at a very early age and before entering politics he was a forklift operator. Webb’s public service career began in 1972 when he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. In 1977, … Read MoreWellington E. Webb (1941- )
February 2, 1848 In the name of Almighty God The United States of America and the United Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which unhappily exists between the two Republics and to establish Upon … Read More(1848) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Samuel George Harker Philander is Knox Taylor Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. Born in Caledon, Republic of South Africa on June 25, 1942, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Town in 1962 and his Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University … Read MoreS. George Philander (1942- )
Born in Colorado Springs in 1902, Ruth Cave began her notable career in unpromising circumstances. Her parents were divorced before she was born, and her mother died when she was 11, leaving Ruth and her sister Dorothy in the care of her 60 year old … Read MoreRuth Cave Flowers (1902-1980)
The child who would become Denver, Colorado’s first and only woman doctor in the early decades of the twentieth century was born in Knoxville, Illinois on January 22, 1871. Her mother, Melisia Warren, had acted as a practical nurse to other slaves and sustained the … Read MoreDr. Justina Ford (1871-1952)
The citizens of Colorado elected their first African American legislator in 1894, eighteen years after gaining statehood in 1876. The man they elected, Joseph H. Stuart, came to the United States from the British West Indies where he had been born in 1854. He studied … Read MoreJohn H. Stuart (1854-1910)
Joseph D.D. Rivers’ name appeared on the second page of The Colorado Statesman (1895–1961), a respected African American weekly newspaper, as editor and publisher for nearly forty years. Rivers started the paper in 1895 and worked diligently to print news from around the country as … Read MoreJoseph D.D. Rivers (ca. 1856-1937)
If any man of any color attained the ranks of legendary in the American West, it was James Beckwourth (also: Beckwith, Beckwoth). If any attest to his fame is necessary, one only needs to read the description under the accompanying lithograph and note that even … Read MoreJames Pierson Beckwourth (c. 1805 – 1866)
Hattie McDaniel is best known as the first black Oscar winner. She won the award on February 29, 1940, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as “Mammy” in Gone With the Wind. McDaniel’s career began three decades earlier. She gave her first public performances as a grade school … Read MoreHattie McDaniel (1895-1952)
George Morrison dreamed of playing violin with a major orchestra. As things stood for black musicians in the early twentieth century, that dream would remain unrealized. Born in Fayette, Missouri, on September 9, 1891, Morrison came from a musical family and at an early age … Read MoreGeorge Morrison (1891-1974)
